“The peasant is the only species of human being who doesn't like the country and never looks at it.”
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Famous Jules Renard Quotes
Source: Journal 1887-1910
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“It is easy for a somebody to be modest, but it is difficult to be modest when one is a nobody.”
“Art: to nudge truth along a little.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“It is in the midst of the city that one writes the most inspiring pages about the country.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“Talent is like money; you don't have to have some to talk about it.”
“Only in this world do we laugh: in hell, it won't be possible; and in heaven, it won't be proper.”
“We must be greater than God, for we have to undo His injustice.”
“To have a horror of the bourgeois is bourgeois.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“I find that when I do not think of myself I do not think at all.”
“You can recover from the writing malady only by falling mortally ill and dying.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“At the bottom of all patriotism there is war: that is why I am no patriot.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“An egotist always resents meeting another egotist as if he alone had the right to be one.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“Dreaming is to think by moonlight by the light of an inner moon.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“Acting of some actors seems natural, because they have no talent.”
“It is more difficult to be an honorable man for a week than to be a hero for fifteen minutes.”
“The horse is the only animal into which one can bang nails.”
“Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.”
“Failure is not our only punishment for laziness; there is also the success of others.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“There are places and moments in which one is so completely alone that one sees the world entire.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.”
“The danger of success is that it makes us forget the world's dreadful injustice.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.”
“I don't know if God exists, but it would be better for His reputation if He didn't.”
“There are moments when everything goes well, but don't be frightened.”
“Truth makes many appeals, not the least of which is its power to shock.”
“A beautiful line of verse has twelve feet, and two wings.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“An optimist is a driver who thinks that empty space at the curb won't have a hydrant beside it.”
“Man who waits for roast duck to fly into mouth must wait very, very long time.”
“Socialism must come down from the brain and reach the heart.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“I finally know what distinguishes man from the other beasts: financial worries.”
“The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat.”
Source: The journal of Jules Renard
“We are so happy to advise others that occasionally we even do it in their interest.”